


A Not So Very "Play" Date

by Tangerine_Catnip



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, First Dates, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Slice of Life, Teen Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-22 03:24:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20867405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine_Catnip/pseuds/Tangerine_Catnip
Summary: For the last year and a bit, Spinel had been visiting earth on a weekly basis to get together with Steven and improve their relationship. She’s learned a whole lot, but there’s still a few things she needs to work on and a few things that he doesn't know about. A few bad things.





	A Not So Very "Play" Date

**Author's Note:**

> Do you ever just... get so mad about people being jerks online that you write 11,000 words of raw fluffy sugar out of pure spite?

Spinel slung her scythe through the air, favouring the greater speed of a short swing over the power of a longer one. 

Steven blocked. The blow glanced away. Spinel struck again; fast and low. Blocked. 

Steven had an answer for everything Spinel could throw at him, even when her attacks began to blend together. It seemed like they’d be stuck in a stalemate forever, but that could change at any moment. 

This time, Spinel was fighting smart. Her attacks seemed chaotic, but there was a pattern hiding just under the surface. 

Down, up, up, up, Down, down, up, up, up, down 

With luck, Steven hadn’t realized he was being lured into a dance with her. She’d teach him how to tango, and then... 

Without warning, Spinel reversed. Slashing down when she had previously gone up. Steven realized his mistake split seconds after he’d made it, but by then, it was too late. He'd given her an opening. 

Spinel hit him with a massive swing, stunning him long enough for her to shift into a flurry of unblockable combos. He went down hard. Two bright yellow letters flashed up on the screen.

**K.O.**

Spinel’s custom fighter spun her scythe around her feet, her pigtails flowing with the movement. She struck a pose, holding up a V for victory and sticking out her pink tongue. It was a pretty decent likeness, aside from the fact her avatar had a human figure with the requisite squishy bits. It had taken Steven and her hours in the character creator to get everything just right, but it had really turned out.

Steven let out the breath he had been holding. 

“I really thought I had you that time.”

Spinel turned to look at him to see if he was joking. “Mhmm… Nha. Nha yuh really didn’t, babe.” 

“You could just let me win once,” Steven suggested, giving her a look with those adorable puppy-dog eyes. The ones that could launch a thousand of Homeworld’s battlecruisers. 

“Uh-huh, and how exactly am I supposed tuh do that when ya won’t attack me back? There’s no button fer ‘stop fighting and make friends.’” 

Spinel held up her controller to illustrate.

“There’s a timer,” Steven insisted, pointing up at the small frozen countdown near the top of the screen.

“But when it runs out, it’s just a draw. That ain’t winning.”

“Why not?”

“Cuz, it’s just not. Those’re the rules.”

Steven crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his beanbag chair. “I make my own rules.” 

Spinel arched her brows up as far as they would go. 

“Well, I ain’t gonna argue, buuuuut, the game still says we’re 20-0.”

Steven glanced over to the score on the screen, and he deflated just a little bit. Sheesh. If he kept that up, she was going to start crying. 

At least now she knew what he was trying to get at. Maybe she could let him win one next time… maybe. 

“Yuh wanna play something else now?” 

“Sure.”

Spinel rolled out of her bean bag and went to go reset the console and swap the disk. Once Spirit Stature 6 was safely back in its case, she flipped through the rest of the pile of game boxes. Since her playdates with Steven became a weekly affair, around about a year ago, she'd got a chance to play most of them. Spinel remembered how to play all of them, she never forgot the rules to a game. 

“Didn’t you just get a pile a’ new ones?”

“Yeah, but none of them are co-op.” 

“That’s fine. I wanna watch you play for a while.” 

“Alright, how about you pick it out then? They’re over there.”

Steven pointed to his bookshelf and Spinel went over to flip through the shiny plastic boxes. She carefully inspected each one, determined to make the best possible choice. 

“What about Deceased Escalation 2?”

“Oh. Connie gave me that one. She said it’s an allegory for how deregulation in the pharmaceutical industry can lead to exploitation of vulnerable populations… and that you can make a weapon by strapping a chainsaw to both ends of a kayak paddle.”

Spinel flipped the box over, and sure enough, a guy in a yellow jacket had a paddle with two chainsaws duct-taped to it. 

“Heh. Neat.”

“I said I would play it, but I’m really not good with horror games. I kinda get scared easily.”

Spinel examined the cover art, noting the cartoonish blood splatter and the neon-lit horde of shambling corpses. Spinel was still getting a handle on human culture, but she was pretty sure this was meant to be more funny than scary. 

Still, this was Steven. He might be scared by it.

She put it back and kept looking. Human video games were so different than the games she used to play with Pink. There was no running or jumping, almost no movement at all, unless they were playing one of the ones with motion controls. Instead, you sat down while the things on the screen played out the game. 

At first, she’d thought they were like her, but Steven seemed very confident that wasn't the case. He’d offered an explanation to go along with it, but all Spinel remembered was it involved tiny boxes of light called pixels. That still sounded Gem-like to her, but she trusted Steven. So, she didn’t feel guilty about enjoying them immensely.

Her favourites were the ones with complex mechanics and quick tests of reflexes. Conversely, Steven was fond of adventure games that gave him big, open worlds to explore. Most of his new ones were like that. Dragon Era, Monster Huntsman, Wild Breath, Mammal Passage… 

Spinel paused on a box and took it off the shelf to get a better look. The title was ‘Epic Warfare: Command and Dominate’ and the cover had a picture of one of those human ocean-ships that couldn’t fly getting shot by a missile and blowing up. 

“What’s this?”

Spinel waved the box at him. It didn’t look like it fit in next to the bright colours and anthropomorphic animals. 

“Oh, right. I uh…” Steven bit his bottom lip as he found his train of thought. Spinel always noticed little motions like that, especially around his lips. Steven had so many cute ticks and expressions. If there were a way to do it that wouldn't make Steven profoundly uncomfortable; Spinel would have gladly stared at him all day. 

“Bismuth said I should learn more about military strategy, and I thought that playing it might help.” 

“Military strategy? What the heck do you need _ that _ for?”

“No one, hopefully, but it’s still a thing I should know about, just in case.”

Spinel nodded. She couldn’t really argue against ‘just in case.’ Who knew what kind of threat could just fall out of the sky? 

“Welp. Sounds like yuh bettuh get on that. I’ll ride shotgun.”

Spinel peeled off the packaging and went over to place the brand-new disk into the tray. When it was up and running, Spinel decided to lay on Steven's bed. Steven obligingly scooted his beanbag chair over so she could use his shoulder as a chin rest. 

Spinel flopped on him, letting her arms relax and extend, draping them around Steven’s neck and shoulders like a scarf. 

For the first few visits, Spinel had been extraordinarily cautious with any kind of physical contact. She wanted to prove that she could be respectful of Steven’s personal space. From there, she had gradually eased back into it. A hug before leaving, leaning against him while watching a movie, holding his hand, then his arm. 

It still took a bit of work to remind herself not to cling and to make sure any touch was welcome, but it was getting more natural as they settled into routines like this one. Preestablishing where the boundaries lay. For example, if she was on the bed and Steven moved closer, it meant he wanted her to lean on him. Or, if she squeezed his hand tight twice, he would choose if he wanted to offer his arm for her to wrap herself around.

What surprised Spinel most, was that there was a whole secret language that she’d been completely missing out on. Full conversations spoken with eye contact and body language that she had overlooked because she’d thought hugging all the time was just what friends did. 

It was like someone had put a switch in her head with only two settings, and now she’d realized the switch had actually been hiding a whole control centre of buttons and knobs with lights flashing in every colour of the rainbow; not just black and white. 

Casual friends, close friends, a friend of friends, work buddies, friends that only worked in groups with others, best friends who had more best friends, and most confusing of all, the ‘more than’ friends. 

Spinel had been made to love one friend and one friend only, but now she had a small handful. All at different levels of intimacy and in various places on the graph. It was complicated and confusing, but also a lot more interesting. 

Before had been Lovely and straightforward, but also shallow and empty. Even if Spinel could snap her fingers and become best friends with anyone she wanted, she wouldn’t, because that meant missing out on all the other options, including ones that might exist after ‘best’. 

Steven selected the new file option on the main menu and was loaded into the tutorial level. A voice-over in a thick accent that Spinel had learned to associate with the part of the earth that had the big hole in it, began to explain the rules. How to build a base, what the different resources were for, and how to produce more units or invest toward gathering more resources. 

“Huh. It’s just like strata-gem” Spinel observed. 

“What’s that?” 

“It was a special game Diamonds used ta practice colonizin’ planets. It was basically the only game Blue and Yellow were allowed to play. Dere were resources to manage and a board wit' three layers that changed each match.”

“Let me guess. Mom was bad at it and hated it?”

“Bingo. She really wanted to beat yellow at it though. I think she was hopin' it would prove she could handle runnin' a colony fer real.” 

Steven moved into the combat part of the tutorial. There were big machines called ‘tanks’ and groups of humans called ‘infantry’ or ‘cavalry’. The first moved slowly in big groups, while the second moved fast in smaller ones.

Spinel could almost see the pieces on the strata-gem board as she compared them in her head. The Ruby squads, the Jasper and Amethyst muscle, each represented by a playing piece in the shape of their Gem. 

She could hear the final click as yellow moved her Emerald to checkmate Pink. She remembered standing quietly, biting her tongue. Spinel had wanted to help Pink so badly. If only she hadn’t made that one little mistake five turns ago. Spinel had seen it coming, but it wasn’t her place… not her place. 

_“Really Pink, that was an even poorer show than last time. If you want to keep challenging me, you should at least practice first.”_

Spinel wanted to play with Pink. She could help her get better! But, Not-Diamonds weren’t allowed to play Dimond games. So they’d gone back to the garden to play hide and seek instead. 

Steven huffed. The note of frustration pulled Spinel back from the well of memory she had fallen into. The tutorial level had finished explaining and was letting Steven finish the battle on his own. 

Spinel suspected things had been heavily weighted in Steven’s favour when it started (this was only an introduction after all), but that wasn’t the case any longer. He was down to three units and was rapidly getting himself backed into a corner. 

That had to be humiliating. Steven hadn’t even technically started the game yet, and he was already losing. 

Spinel closed her fingers over his shoulder and ran her hand down the length of his arm. Even under the plush fabric of his jacket Spinel could feel the tension in his muscles. He was gripping the controller too hard. 

Steven selected one of his Calvary (Jasper) units and traced a path with his curser, leading them back further into the corner.

“Wait.”

Spinel placed her hand over Steven’s before he could finish completing his move. 

“There’s an opening, go north and flank them from behind. Do it quickly, and they won’t know what hit them.”

Steven shifted his shoulders back and turned his head. He couldn’t really look at her with her head on his shoulder, but he tried.

“You know how to play this?”

"It just explained, didn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Steven cancelled his current move and lined up the new one.

“Like that?”

“Mmhmm. Just like that.”

Steven confirmed, and the Jasper moved out. 

“You can keep retreating with the Ruby… uh... the infantry units, but keep them close enough that they can join the attack when you pincer them.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Steven agreed. He was obviously teasing her, but Spinel still felt her wavelength flux, and her form heat up. 

Steven played his second move and passed the turn. The enemy units kept pushing forward, just like Spinel had predicted. On Steven's next turn, he sprung the trap. Attacking on both fronts. 

“What now?” Steven asked. 

Spinel blanked for a moment. Hold on. Steven wanted her advice? Hers? Was this secretly Opposite Day? No, it was a Friday. Fridays couldn’t be Opposite Day, everyone knew that. 

“Ya’ got um on the ropes. Go in for the kill.”

“But…”

Steven didn’t add anything after the word, but Spinel could easily recreate his whole argument from the reluctance in his voice. 

Spinel groaned and hid her eyes in the collar of Steven’s jacket. “Uggg. Steeeeeevvvvennn. Ain’t cha da one always remindin' me dat da tings up dere aren’t real?”

“I guess…” Steven admitted. “But if this game was really realistic, they should’ve put in a way to ask to stop fighting.”

“Ooo-kay, Hang on. Lemme check…” 

Spinel stretched her arm over to the TV and pulled a small laminated leaflet out of the box the game came in. She’d discovered that this was where most video games put their rules. She was continually perplexed by the fact that Steven not only didn’t read them, but didn’t even think about looking, even when he was stuck. 

She pulled it back and flipped through the pages. Speed reading through the information to find the relevant bit. 

“Huh. Yer right.” 

Spinel held the manual up for Steven to see and read the important part. 

“If you believe you have a definitive advantage, you can ask your opponent to concede by selecting their command centre.” 

Steven flew his cursor across the field and inputted the request. The response came back instantly. 

ENEMY HAS AGREED TO SURRENDER.

Steven grinned.

“That was easy. We should try that sooner next time.” 

“Eeeyah. Except they might not be so willin' tuh do dat before yuh put deir back against a wall.”

“True… still, it's worth a shot though, right?"

“Mmmmm… Sure.”

For winning, Steven got a handful of resources he could use to start on a home-base that would give him bonuses for future matchups. Spinel finished reading the manual while he decided if he wanted white tanks with pink and blue stripes; or pink tanks with blue and white stripes.

Eventually, Steven loaded up the next round. He started with just his command centre, a gathering unit, and a power plant. From there he would need to scramble to get boots on the ground before his opponent could send their own forces. 

He scrolled over to the opponent’s base. Unsurprisingly, they were not interested in surrendering on the first turn. 

“Welp. I’m out of ideas. What now?”

“There’s a good source of metal to the south. If we grab just enough, we can make a few tanks and send them west to protect the lake. If they secure that spot before we do, it’ll be bad.”

Steven nodded and set to it. 

They played a few rounds like that. Steven would periodically check-in to see if they could end the match, and if not, he'd look to her for the next steps. As they played, Spinel started to figure out how to push the AI into giving up while preventing as many casualties as possible. It was an interesting challenge to toss on top of what was otherwise a pretty bear-bones case of right and wrong options.

“Try them now.”

“You think they’ll take it?”

“Duh, we cut their supply lines and power. They’re dead in da water.”

The request was accepted, and the victory screen played. Steven placed his controller on the floor, leaned back against the bed, and sighed. 

Spinel was utterly mystified. That had been one of their cleanest wins yet. What could he possibly be sad about now?

“Uhhh… Steven?” 

He turned part of the way around to face her and held up his arms. Offering up her favourite wordless signal, the request for a hug. She let her form flow off his bed in a way that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike how a snake moved.

She filled up the space between his arms, leaving hers around his neck and shoulders. He was sitting with his legs crossed, giving Spinel a nice spot to rest and a reason to cross her own legs behind his back. 

Steven hugged her as tightly as he could with his tragically short limbs. Spinel squished him back just as tight, coiling her arms around him once, twice, almost three times. That wasn’t really a boundary, but Spinel had to stop herself somewhere.

Spinel felt two warm teardrops land on her shoulder. 

Nooooooo… Who hurt him? She’d kill- Have a very strongly worded conversation with whoever they were. 

But, she was the only one here... Had she done something? Was it because she didn’t let him figure the game out on his own? Or… or… 

Spinel caught herself before she took another step closer to that hole. 

Ask. Won’t know unless you ask. 

“What’s wit' da waterwawhks, Mista Universe? Did somethin' happen?”

Steven lifted his head off her shoulder and sat back. He touched his own cheek with his hand like he somehow hadn’t been able to tell he was crying until now.

He pulled in a shaky almost-sob and forced a grin. 

“Sorry. No, I'm fine. I was only.. uh... thinking about something.”

That made sense. Thinking about things was the #1 reason Spinel cried too. 

“Things like what?” 

Steven bit his lip. It must’ve been hard to explain then. Spinel was about to tell him he didn’t have to explain, but Steven beat her to the punch. 

“How great a Crystal Gem you would have made.”

Spinel handed that memo to a smaller Spinel in her head for analysis, but she came back empty-handed.

“How great a…? Umm. Thanks? But-uh, why wud I have been a Crystal Gem?” 

That was the wrong thing to ask. The faint sparkle of stars in Steven’s eyes winked out of existence. 

“No… No reason, I guess.”

Spinel felt guilty but she just couldn't connect the dots. She knew a lot of Steven’s close friends were part of the Crystal Gems, but she also knew that plenty were not. The Diamonds, Dad/Greg, all the humans in Beach City.

Was he saying he wanted her to join the club? But if that were the case, why didn’t he just say that? It sounded like he wished something had already happened, something it was too late to fix. 

Steven put his hands back around her hips and closed his eyes for a moment. 

“I guess there’s no point crying over Spilled Spinels. Is there?” 

Okay, now she was starting to worry. Steven had one foot in the thick mud of sorrow, and that had not been on the list of things to play in today. 

“Are ya sure yur alright? Is this a sugared blood thing? We could go get doughnuts."

Steven snort-laughed and Spinel’s gem glinted with a sudden upswell of joy. She hadn’t meant to make a joke but, by the stars, she would take it.

“Yes, please,” Steven enthused. “Help me up?”

Spinel braced herself against the floor by coiling her legs against it, then bounced them both up onto their feet. Once she was satisfied that Steven was supporting his own weight, she carefully untangled herself, falling back into her default proportions. 

“Just let me run to the bathroom first. Could you turn the console off and meet me downstairs?” Steven asked. 

Spinel grinned and shot him a wink. 

“Copy, copy. Go, do your nasty thing." 

Spinel gently poked at his tummy with both her pointer fingers. 

“Oh, no, I’m just…” Steven thought better of that sentence two words in. “Never mind.”

He headed over to the stairs, muttering something about Gems under his breath. 

Spinel waved and smiled until he was completely down the stairs and she was alone in his room. Alone in Steven’s room without him. All on her own. Yup. 

…

Spinel saved their game, ejected the disc, put it and the manual back into the box, then put the box on the shelf, and turned the console off. 

Alright. That was all she needed. Tiiiiiiiime to go. Time to go. Just, put one foot on the first step. 

Spinel planted her foot on the stair… but it was the only part that was anywhere near there.

Oh, diamond dust! She had to stop doing this. She really really had to. 

Spinel’s friendship with Steven was one of the most important things in her life. The time they spent together was wonderful, but it was more than just that. Even when Steven wasn’t there, Spinel felt like she carried a piece of him around. Things that were hard to do got easier if she asked what Steven would want her to do, and when the voices in her head listed all her faults in excruciating detail, the counterargument of; ‘if Steven likes me, I can’t be all bad,’ was the only one that she couldn’t prove wrong. 

Spinel could easily disappoint herself, (she’d been doing that her whole existence,) but she couldn’t stand disappointing Steven. So, she carried that piece with her everywhere and guarded it carefully. 

Except, these days ‘piece’ was more like ‘pieces.’ Several pieces… -and by ‘pieces’ she meant things. His things. His stuff that she’d stolen. 

If Spinel could go back in time and rip the blue shirt out of her past self's hands, she would, because while, yes, he had dozens and he would never miss one, it had only been the beginning for her. 

How was Spinel supposed to know that things that humans wore still smelled like them afterwards? Or that if she put the shirt that smelled like him on a pillow and put her head on it, it’d be so easy to imagine she was snuggling with him.

After that discovery, the urge had only grown. It didn't even matter what it was. If it was his, Spinel wanted it.

Spinel never took things two weeks at a time and tried not to end up alone with his stuff, but it still happened, and when it did, she couldn’t help herself 

To date, Spinel had taken: 

A ¼ full bottle of that white radiation shield cream Steven wore on sunny days   
A pair of socks with stars on them  
A tiny figurine of a blond human with a bushy beard  
A glittery pink pencil with teeth marks near the base  
A pair of novelty heart-shaped sunglasses   
A shark tooth hanging from a hemp cord   
A pack of spearmint gum with a single stick left   
And a slightly crumpled polaroid picture of younger Steven sitting on the beach playing his ukulele

She kept all of it inside her gem. With her all the time, in the spot only she could reach. 

She needed to hurry. Steven would be finished soon and the only thing worse than letting herself steal from him would be letting herself get caught stealing from him. Spinel glanced around wildly. Something small. Something that looked like it had been forgotten. If it was already lost, then it was almost not stealing. She was just getting it lost-er.

She dove for his bed, or really, the space under it. That was the best spot to look. The things down there usually went in and never came back. She was just getting to it before the void did.

There were dust bunnies, magazines and comic books, seashells, cardboard boxes, and… the spot where the dust was lighter from the last time she was here. 

It didn’t look like anything new had made its way under there, so Spinel was just pulling her head back when’s she saw it. 

Spinel extended her arm and snapped the small plastic tube up from where it was lying half under the bed half under the nightstand. 

This… Oh, stars. Spinel knew what this was. Lip..something. Stick? No. Gloss. The differences were lost on her, but she knew what Steven did with it. He leaned in close to the star-shaped mirror above his side table and carefully ran it over his lips. If Spinel did the same thing, then something that touched… would touch hers. 

She couldn’t take this. 

She couldn’t not take it. 

“Spinel, I’m ready!” 

A faint pink flash lit up Spinel’s chest. The lip gloss tube vanished from her hand. She bounded down the stairs to Steven. Beaming, even though she could almost feel her stolen treasure rattling against the inside of her gem. 

He offered her a hand, and she took it. 

_ ‘He wouldn’t be smiling back you if he knew what you’d done’ _ the voice in her head growled _ ‘You didn’t change. You’re just better at hiding how pitiful and desperate you are. He’s gonna find out. He’ll discover what you did, and then he'll tell you he _ ** _never wants to play with you ever again_ ** _ .’ _

“I just remembered the big doughnut got a new flavour in! Maple sugar! Lars said they imported the syrup all the way from Canada.” 

“Ohhh, is that like anudder planet? That’s a long way to go fer sugar.”

“Uh, no. Not quite another planet.”

* * *

The late afternoon sun beat down heavily on the beach city boardwalk. Staycationers from every corner of Delmarva had flocked in to have one last taste of summer before fall truly took hold. Some were sunbathing on the beach, but the good tanning hours were already over, so more were wandering between the shops and cafes, enjoying the cooler part of the day.

“You’ve got a little… No, not quite. Here.”

Steven touched Spinel’s cheek and brushed at the side of her mouth with his thumb. When he took his hand back, the little smudge of maple frosting that had stuck to the corner of her mouth was on his finger instead. He licked it off and smiled. 

“There. I don’t think anyone noticed.”

Spinel didn’t really care if anyone had noticed. Steven was the only one she’d want to do anything about it. 

“Gosh, eating is harder than it looks.”

“It really is. Humans have their whole lives to learn how to do it, and we still mess up so badly it goes down the wrong way and makes us choke.”

Spinel tightened her grip on Steven’s arm, coiling the lower part around his wrist like a stack of huge bracelets.

“It can? But, but! That’s nevuh happened tuh you, has it?!”

Steven laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Maybe just once or twice… a year… It’s usually nothing serious.”

Spinel tensed up. Storing up energy. Spoiling for a fight. But there wasn’t anything she could punch. 

“Spinel, don't worry about it, really," Steven reassured her, squeezing her fingers between his own. “Humans have managed to muddle through for millions of years. We wouldn’t still be around if we were that fragile. That, and Pearl already made sure all the Crystal Gems can do the Heimlich manoeuvre. I could ask her to teach you if you like?” 

Spinel hissed under her breath. Oh, that was downright tricky of him. Steven knew she didn’t get along well with Pearl. If he framed it like that, Spinel either had to let it go or spend some ‘quality time’ with her. 

For a guy who sucked at strategy games, Steven was uncannily good at checkmating everyone else around him into becoming better people. 

Steven gasped, and Spinel jolted. They’d already finished eating! He couldn’t... 

Then she looked where he was looking. Both large doors on the side of the Funland Arcade were open, and a few of the machines had been moved out onto the boardwalk to attract attention. The one that had caught Steven’s notice was large, had a huge screen, four exterior speakers, and a large platform with light-up arrows flashing in pink and blue. 

“It’s finally fixed!” Steven squealed, grabbing Spinel by her shoulders and shaking her. “I thought we wouldn’t see it again till next summer!”

Steven let go and sprinted over to it, dragging Spinel along behind him. He didn’t intent the dragging, but Spinel wasn’t about to let go of his arm, so it couldn’t really be helped. 

Steven leaned in to check the ledge for any claims to the machine, but they had gotten lucky, and no one else was interested just now.

Steven’s excitement faltered for just a split second. 

“Spinel do you-”

She didn’t even give him enough time to finish the sentence before she put a hand to her gem and pulled out a roll of quarters. She passed them to Steven and his eyes filled with stars.

“I love you,” he whispered, his voice straining under the weight of his emotions. 

Spinel snort-giggled, but behind her smirk, her gem was aching. Those words, those sweet, little words. If only she could do something to earn them that was worth as much as they were. 

It was just a hunk of hard-pressed metal. Through his father, Steven could access mountains and mountains of them if he wanted, but it wasn’t about having access to them as much as having them when you needed them.

After the first few times he'd forgotten to bring change, Spinel had acquired a few of the ‘quarters’ and found a way to replicate them perfectly with Homeworld tec. When she told Steven how she got them, he'd been a little upset because it was ‘counterfeiting’ and ‘extremely illegal', but in the moment, he never seemed to remember those concerns. 

Steven broke the roll and loaded a handful into the machine. Spinel let him have his arm back and stepped up onto the platform. She was glad to have the game back in working order. She’d wanted to ask the Diamonds to send a small army of peridots to fix it after she'd accidentally stepped too hard on one of the panels, but Steven had made her promise not to. Something about human problems needing humans to solve. 

It was also a shame they could only play this one at the arcade, since Spinel was still finding it just a tiny bit awkward to be wandering around the place she had reduced to a pile of foul-smelling poisonous goop just a few years ago… but this game was worth the discomfort. 

It had taken her a while to fully get it. The rules said the goal was to get the highest score on the hardest song and she’d managed that on her third try. (Even if Steven kept insisting that putting a part of her body on every panel at once was cheating.) After that, it’d been boring until Steven had started to play next to her. When they were together on the platform, something magical happened. 

Steven selected their favourite song and picked medium difficulty. The scoreboard for the track had them listed at the top with a perfect score and previous attempts in every other slot. 

Steven stepped back and offered her his hand. On the screens, an empty score flashed up, and the arrows started to float up as the music played. Spinel put her hand in his and he spun her gently. She flowed across the platform, her feet hitting the flashing panels in perfect time with the beat and the on-screen prompts.

Neither of them needed to look at the screen. They were too busy watching one another. 

> _ I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me. _
> 
> _ I still feel your touch in my dreams~ _

Steven pulled her back, and they traded roles. Spinel extended her arm above Steven’s head twirling him like a ballerina as they coasted through the slow part of the song. 

> _ Forgive me my weakness, but I don’t know why, _
> 
> _ Without you, it's hard to survive… _

Steven ended his spin, and they held their pose, fingers laced, arms fully extended. Then the song jumped in pace, and they broke apart. The panels flashed in rapid succession, registering the weight of each perfectly timed step. The dividing line between the two dance pads went completely ignored as Spinel and Steven swapped sides over and over. Steven planted his feet on the up panels on both sides and Spinel weaved through the steps behind him. Then she took over while he slipped in behind her. 

The machine only registered what their feet were doing, but they put everything they had into their dance. Hours of practice had ended in a routine where Steven’s hands were almost always on her waist and hers were on his shoulders. The dance pad didn't have all that much room, so keeping track of who was where was essential. 

Even after a few months away from it, they still knew it all by heart. Each dip and turn bathed in blue and pink from below. The bouncy pop rhythm carrying them along. 

The song was three minutes long, but it only felt like a few seconds had passed when the music faded. Spinel found herself with one foot the left pad’s right arrow and the other on the right pads left arrow, Steven’s arms around her middle and his chin on her shoulder. 

He was breathing heavily, and his heart beat so solidly against his rib cage, she could feel it too.

"Perfect score!" The machine thrilled. It popped up an input screen, and Steven leaned a little further over Spinel’s shoulder to put their usual name in. 

StevenXSpinel

“Guess we still got it, huh?” Steven murmured; his breath hot against her cheek. 

“Eehehe. I think ya mean, ‘**I’ve **still got it’. You almost missed a step right there in the middle, mista Universe.” 

“Heh. Guess that means we’ll need to practice even more.” 

“Uh-huh.”

Steven straightened up and turned to look behind them. A sizeable crowd had gathered to watch, which often happened when the machine was out on the boardwalk. 

“Does anyone else want a turn?” He asked. 

There was a short moment of silence until a younger boy in the crowd yelled.

“Do another one!” 

Steven laughed and turned back to Spinel. 

“Want to keep going?”

Spinel nodded fervently. “Let’s do buttafly next.” 

* * *

As they were leaving, they ran into the large human who managed the Arcade. Mr. smile-face or something like that. 

“Hey, Steven!” he greeted. 

“Heya, Mr. Smiley! We're thrilled to see the Dance machine is fixed! Sorry again for breaking it.” 

“Well, I think this time we can call it even-Steven. It wasn’t all that expensive to fix, and whenever you and your little lady come and dance, it always draws in a big crowd.”

They both looked over at Spinel, and she slunk down behind Steven’s shoulder. 

“That’s true. We really should be getting home now, though. Thanks again!” 

Steven walked with Spinel back down the boardwalk towards the cliff and the temple statue. They were surrounded by other humans. Some walking alone, others in pairs or groups. The numbers started to dwindle the further they got from the main pathway until they left it entirely and walked out across the cool sand toward the ocean. The gentle roar of waves crashing against the rocks grew louder as they got closer 

“Hey, Spinel?” Steven asked. 

Spinel eased off her hold on his arm. She already felt more comfortable now they were alone again. She kept their arms linked but allowed a small space to form between them, so it was easier to talk. Easier to look at him. 

“This was a really great day. Thanks for coming over.” 

“Aw, shucks. It’s no trouble. I really like spendin’ time with you.” 

Steven smiled, the corners of his eyes turning up with the grin. 

“Thanks, Spinel. You know, Connie’s going back to school soon and this year is going to be the most important one for her. There’s a lot of tests, and she needs to do well in everything to get into the programs she’s going to apply for, so she won’t be able to visit as often; and then Amethyst is taking on more responsibilities in little Homeworld. Her and the Famathyst are working on adding a new district for smaller gems, so they’ll feel more comfortable.”

Steven bit down on his bottom lip his eyes falling to the soft sand and the footprints they were leaving behind. 

“Uggh. Sorry, I’m rambling… I guess the point is that I’m grateful to be able to hang out with someone my own age all the time.”

Spinel giggled. “Someone your own age? Aren’t I like, 6 thousand years older than you?”

“Yeah, but that’s just how long you’ve been around.”

“Alright, ya lost me. Those aren’t the same thing?” 

“No. Not at all.”

Steven held out his other hand, and Spinel took it. He examined their fingers laced together, pink and pale peach in layers. Like a vanilla and strawberry birthday cake. 

“It sounds cliché to say it but… Spinel, you really aren’t like other Gems. I know what happened to you was awful, and what you were made for was awful too, but it also gave you an opportunity the others never had. They already knew most of who they were the moment they were formed, but you got to have a blank slate, because no one ever expected more from you.”

Steven was doing a Steven thing. Specifically, the Steven thing where he held a mirror up and tried to get you to realize something important about yourself. Spinel couldn’t see where he was going just yet, but then it wouldn’t be a good magic trick if she could.

“I don’t get it.” 

“Do you remember that day we spent trying to find Amethyst and get her memories back?” Steven asked, idly swinging their joined hands in front of them. 

Spinel nodded. 

“Whenever I think back on that. It really hits me how much your past self reminds me of someone I used to know. Someone who used to tag along on serious missions and get in everyone's way. Someone who was… I guess I’ll use your words, ‘Innocent, loving, stupid.’ 

A light bulb floating above Spinel’s head clicked on. 

“Is it you? I’m guessing this is about you.” 

“Ha. Yeah, you caught me,” Steven admitted his cheeks colouring to better match his gemstone. “Past Steven used to be a lot like Past Spinel. Especially that last part, the ‘stupid’ part.” 

“You’re not stupid,” Spinel murmured. She leaned over and nuzzled into the space underneath his chin. 

Steven wrapped the arm she had been holding around her back. “No, not anymore.”

The pair of them stopped walking and stood together for a moment instead. 

“Because I grew up, just like you did. That’s why we’re the same age.”

Spinel turned her head, peeking out from Steven’s collarbone at the temple ruins further up the beach. 

“But yur gonna keep growing, and I… I won’t. What if… What if yuh grow away from me?” 

Spinel felt Steven swallow. He rested a hand on the back of her head, his fingertips ruffling up her hair. 

“Yeah, I’m going to keep growing, but don’t you think you will too? I’d say you have since we met. Lately, I feel like I get to meet a better version of Spinel every time you come to visit. You aren't standing still anymore." 

The murmur of the waves mixed with the faint cricket songs drifting down from lighthouse hill. 

“I don’t know if things will work out this way, but if we get to grow up together… I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

* * *

It was starting to get dark by the time Spinel, and Steven made it back to his beach house. Pearl was in the kitchen, making something for Steven's dinner. Spinel slunk down behind him, making her presence as hard to notice as possible, hoping that Pearl would just let her slip by unacknowledged. 

“And will you be staying for dinner, Spinel?”

It hadn’t been that strong of a hope. 

“Uh… no, thanks. I’m just going to take the warp home in a bit.”

“Alright, you’d better get going then, or the Diamonds will start to worry about you.”

Spinel followed Steven back up the stairs to his room. Fortunately for her, getting to the Homeworld warp didn't require backtracking through the kitchen. 

Spinel flopped into her beanbag chair. She closed her eyes and sighed, letting all her body parts flop out around her. 

“Why does she always say stuff like that? The diamonds don’t always need to know where I am. I mean they do, but they don’t** have** to.”

Steven chuckled and shook his head. 

“Don’t worry about it, Spinel. Pearl is just hard on you because she’s worried that you’re taking her little boy away from her.” 

Spinel cracked one eye open and squinted over at him. 

“But I’m here with you. I’m not taking you anywhere.” 

Steven had his back to her as he wandered around the room. He picked up everything that had landed on the floor that day. A loose pair of flip-flops, pyjama pants, a few books and some game cases. 

“it’s more of a metaphorical kind of taking. It’s… complicated. But I’m growing up no matter what. So even if you weren’t here, she’d just be worried about something else.” 

Spinel shrugged. She honestly didn’t give two hoots what Pearl thought. It was just frustrating. 

The floor creaked as Steven got down on his hands and knees. Spinel turned to see what he was doing, her Gem dimming when she saw where he was looking. 

“Hey, Spinel. You haven’t seen my lip-gloss, have you?” 

“Eep!” 

Spinel curled into a ball smaller than the beanbag chair and stared straight ahead at the wall. 

“Nh-no. No idea whatcha’re tawhkin' about.”

Steven huffed and pushed himself back up onto his feet. He walked over to her and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Uh-huh. So that little guilty-sounding squeak noise I heard just now was just a passing mouse, right?”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee…”

Spinel slunk down even further. Her guilty sounding squeak morphing into a whimper. 

“Hey, Hey. It’s alright,” Steven reassured her. “Spinel, I don’t mind if you borrow my stuff. I'd just really prefer if you asked first, so I know I haven’t just lost it.”

Spinel nodded stiffly. She put a hand to her Gem and took out the small pink tube. Steven held out his hand, and she dropped it into his palm. 

“I’m really sorry, Steven."

“You’re forgiven. Now you know better for next time, right?” 

Steven flashed Spinel a warm smile that made her feel like all the facets in her gemstone were nothing but cheap hunks of coloured glass. 

He was giving her the benefit of the doubt, but Spinel knew she didn’t deserve it. She'd known what she was doing was wrong, and she'd done it anyway.

Steven went over to his star-shaped mirror with the lights mounted in the frame and popped the top of the plastic tube. He carefully ran the smooth edge over his bottom lip then his top. He pressed them together, finishing with a faint smack. Then, instead of putting the cap back on, he held it out in Spinel’s direction. 

“Do you still want to try it on?” 

Invisible strings tugged at Spinel, controlling her arms and legs like a puppet as they drove her over to Steven. She took the tube and looked her reflection in the eyes.

_ ‘Lier. Thief. Traitor.’ _

She pressed the tube to her bottom lip, feeling the faintest trace of warmth from Steven’s lips. She held it there for just a bit too long, and Steven took her wrist, guiding her hand. Top lip, then the bottom. 

Spinel pursed her lips to even out the coat. It was a weird sensation, the weight of the gloss and the feel of her lips gliding over one another so effortlessly. She put the cap back on the tube and placed it down on the end table. The soft clack echoing in her ears. 

Steven tilted her chin up to see. He mimed the little puckering motion he used to fix his gloss and Spinel followed along. 

Steven grinned, showing off the faint pink shine on his lips. 

“It looks good on you.” 

Spinel whimpered and fell to the floor in a tangled heap. Her eyes overflowed with a sudden wave of tears, her form trembling with full-body sobs. 

“Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeven…”

Steven still had his hand where Spinel’s chin had been a second ago. He looked all around before he noticed that she had just gone straight down. 

“Uh…”

Steven kneeled, holding out a hand as he tried to judge if he should comfort her. 

“Spinel?” 

Spinel latched on to his middle and buried her face in his lap.

“StevenimsosorryivebeentakingyourstuffformonthsandIdidn’taskortellyouIhaveyourglassesandoneofyourshirts- awnd... awnd.”

Steven wrapped his arms around her shoulders and ran his hand down her back. 

“Whoa, Whoa. Spinel, I’m gonna need it about 50% slower. What did you take?” 

Spinel pulled in a choked sob. She’d already admitted everything. She might as well do the only good thing she could and return everything. 

She jerked away from Steven and put both hands to her gem, pulling out all the things she’d stolen and dropping them onto the floor between them. 

Steven sat back. Crossing his legs as he picked through all her treasures. 

“That’s a cute picture. You should keep it. The glasses probably look better on you anyway, I’ve got plenty of sunscreen… Oh! I was wondering where those socks went. Aren’t they a little too small for you?”

Steven looked up at Spinel, his face was blurred by the tears still streaming from her eyes. 

“But… that wasn’t why you took them? Was it?” Steven said, answering his own question. 

He picked up the glittery pencil, examining the bite marks on the end. He closed his eyes and nodded like he had just decided on something. 

This was it. The moment Spinel had always known was coming. In a few minutes, he’d take her to the warp pad, send her back to Homeworld, and never speak to her again. 

Spinel couldn’t even blame him. He’d reached out. He’d given her a second, third, and fourth chance. He’d done everything he could; but, in the end, she’d never be able to put his needs above hers. She really was the worst friend in the entire universe. 

Steven took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She looked at the door leading onto the walkway, expecting to be directed towards it, but Steven didn't stop lifting her even when her feet left the ground. He tucked one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, under her arms. 

For a second, Spinel thought Steven was so sick of her that he was just going to toss her away, but then he took two steps over to his bed. Suddenly, she was on her back, nestled in the comforter and pillows with Steven’s reassuring weight on top of her. 

He delicately laced his fingers into hers and held her right hand over her head. 

“Spinel. You’ve been doing some bad things and not telling me. Haven’t you?”

Spinel would have thought that question would cut, but his tone… teasing? Yeah, but that was only half of it. 

His dark eyes bore into her. Everything about Steven was curves and pastel except for those eyes. They drew her in like two miniature black holes, daring her to cross the event horizon and surrender to a gravity so intense even light couldn’t escape.

“Mmhm.” 

Spinel didn’t have words. Not anymore. 

Steven braced himself against the mattress with his left hand and leaned in. Spinel shivered, feeling his warm breath ghosting over her neck. 

“Do you want to know a secret, though?” Steven whispered. “I’ll share it. As long as you promise you won’t tell.” 

Spinel stared up at the ceiling. There were little plastic glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to it, half blue, half pink 

“Pr-promise…” Spinel stammered, only getting the one word. 

Spinel tugged on Steven’s shoulder, and he obligingly shifted a bit more of his weight onto her. It was like being snuggled up underneath a gigantic teddy bear. 

“I did a bad thing too.”

Steven sat up. As if that should explain everything. Spinel followed him up. Missing him on top of her half a second after he had just been there. 

“It wasn’t something I took, but I did hide it from you and... and that was wrong of me. I just didn’t know if you would feel the same way, and I guess I was too scared to find out, because… well…”

Steven grabbed a handful of the front of his shirt. His self-confidence evaporating right in front of Spinel’s eyes. His mood shifted as suddenly as hers did. 

“I thought I might lose you,” he finished. He swallowed, catching her gaze with his. It seemed impossible that Steven Universe was having trouble talking about his feelings, but here Spinel saw it with her own eyes. 

“Was that what you were scared of too? That I’d find out and hate you?” he asked. 

“B-Bingo.” 

Steven laughed. Pained and relieved, but also genuinely amused. 

“God, we’re just a big pair of dummies, aren’t we? You’d think by now I would have learned, but this’s always been the kind of relationship I was worst at. Not a lot of practice. Just Connie, for a while… and now you.” 

Spinel still didn’t have a full handle on what was going on right now, but as far as she could tell it was going well. She was in Steven’s bed with him and not crying on the floor, which was about a million times better than anything she had been expecting. 

There was something Steven had said a moment ago that she needed to ask about. Something he had skipped right over. She crawled over to him on her elbows, her pigtails slicked back tight against her back. 

“Wait, what was da thing? What’s da bad thing yuh did?”

Steven held out his hand and Spinel gave him her own. He moved her hand up until her fingers pressed against the side of his neck, just under the collar of his shirt.

Spinel’s mouth fell open. Then her fingers brushed up against something metallic. Spinel looked at her fingers, noticing the faint glimmer of silver.

Steven dropped her wrist and tilted his head back, letting her follow the chain and pull it out from under his shirt as she went. 

At the end of the silver thread was a luscious dark pink gemstone cut in the shape of a heart. It was mounted in a silver frame and surrounded by tiny light-pink stones. 

“What.”

“It’s a Spinel… Uh, an earth Spinel, I mean. It’s a gemstone, not a Gem. There’s no one inside it, it’s just a neat looking mineral. Humans wear earth gemstones as decoration, it's called jewellery. I, uh, I made it myself. It’s… it’s a hobby.” 

Spinel turned it one way then the other, watching how the light reflected off it. It did look a lot like her Gem, but she could see the difference the same way humans could see the difference between themselves and plastic dolls. 

“What’re the little ones?”

“…”

Steven swallowed hard. 

“Pi-Pink Diamonds.” 

“Alla um!?”

“Yes! But, again, they’re not the same thing. It’s just what we call diamonds. They’re rare, but not as rare as they are on Homeworld.” 

Spinel held the pendent up a little higher. She almost couldn't imagine it. Pink diamonds being used to enhance the lustre of a Spinel. It was all back to front, upside down and topsy turvy. 

Wrong. Or that's what she would have thought if Steven hadn’t made it. If it was something he’d done, it had to be right. 

Steven had made it.

“I don’t understand… This is yur bad thing? How culd... How could this be bad?" she asked, her voice cracking in the middle. 

Steven’s expression darkened. 

“You haven’t asked why I’m wearing it, or how often I wear it, or why I never showed it to you.” 

“Okay, I ask all those things.”

Steven sucked in a breath. If it had been only up to her, Spinel would have made him stop. She didn't want to understand more than she didn’t want to see him hurting, but the best thing Steven had ever taught her was that you couldn’t just ignore difficult or painful things hoping they would go away. Some wounds just wouldn’t close until after you pulled out the thorn. 

“I’m wearing it because it makes me think of you and how much I like being around you. Sometimes, I pretend it’s your gemstone and that I’m wearing it because we’ve… fused.”

Steven worried at the crook of his left elbow with his right hand. His face flushed with pink. 

“And then, I think about how much fun that would be, and I wonder who we’d be, together. I think about what it would feel like to love myself through loving you and to feel you love yourself through loving me. I think about how your pigtails would brush over our shoulders, how our curls might fall, how wide we would smile. Then I imagine how we’d move. How your energy and flexibility would combine with my strength and power. How fast we could run and how high we could jump. How we’d almost fly together. We’d be an unstoppable force and an unmovable object. I think… No. I know. I know that together we’d be Invincible. If we just… deal with everything we need to.” 

Spinel stared back at him blankly. Eyes wide and unblinking. 

All she’d ever wanted was to be Steven’s friend. She had never even thought about becoming a part of him, even temporarily. 

The way Steven was describing it. That sounded spectacular. No, more than just spectacular. 

**S** pectacular, **T**errific, **E**lectrifying, **V**ibrant, **E**ffortless, **N**oticeable. S-T-E-V-E-N spells Steven! 

But what if?

What if? 

What if it wasn't like how Steven thought? What if once he was a part of her, he found a fault he'd never noticed, and was repulsed? What if it was something she couldn’t change? What if she lost control of herself and refused to let them un-fuse? 

Spinel had already stolen his things just to keep a piece of him, what would she be capable of when all of him was right there? How could she go back to being **S**tupid, **P**itiful, **I**nsecure, **N**obody, **E**gotistical, **L**oser after she had been part of **S**elf-Respecting, **T**houghtful, **E**ngaging, **V**ulnerable, **E**ncouraging, **N**urturing. 

She’d mess it all up. She’d mess it all up bad. Bad, bad, badder then she had ever messed up bad before. Steven's love would rot away inside her, and this time, nothing would grow from the pool of poison left behind. 

Steven placed both his hand on her shoulders and pushed her out of the slow forward slump she hadn’t noticed she was falling into. 

“Spinel. Whatever you're thinking about right now. Stop it. Stop it right now!” Steven ordered, his calm, authoritative tone failing him right at the end. 

He hung his head. **S**hamed, **T**orturing himself… But why? He was Steven. **S**tupendous- 

“Please, forget I said **any of that**. That... that was way too much all at once. You’re not ready yet, I know you aren’t.” 

Tears. He was crying. No, not yet. Just on the edge. 

Steven tightened his grip and pulled in a deep breath. 

“Huuuuuunnnnnggggggggghhhhnnnn.”

Spinel cocked her head to the side. What was THAT noise? 

It seemed to help Steven though, because after he made it, he was able to pull himself back together. He put his hands in his lap and nodded his head once. 

“Spinel, you mean a lot to me. I want to keep being your friend, but I also want more. I want to keep spending time with you no matter what, but I also want to stop having playdates because I don’t want to _ play _ with you anymore.” 

There it was. Exactly what Spinel had been afraid of. Those words had haunted her for years in an endless waking nightmare.

**I don’t want to play with you. **

But using his special magic, Steven had twisted it around and around, reshaping it and her with his steady grip. 

And now the exact words she’d been so afraid of were the best thing she had ever heard in her entire existence. 

“If you feel the same way, please, tell me,” Steven added. “I guess... I guess I’m hoping that’s why you took my stuff, because you also wanted more.”

Silent tears chased each other down Spinel’s cheeks. 

“This is the… dis is dat thing. The thing aftuh best friends,” She realized aloud. “What… What’s it called?”

Steven shrugged. 

“Unnhm… Partners, lovers, significant other, companions, sweethearts? Humans don’t completely agree. Girlfriend? Gem-friend? No, that doesn't really work.”

“I like sweethearts.”

Steven sighed. He was doing that a lot lately. Was that something humans did more when they wanted to pair up? Maybe some sort of mating ritual? 

“I’ll call it whatever you want Spinel. I just… I need you to say if that’s what you want. Please? The only thing worse than losing you would be knowing I pushed you into something.”

“Will you make me one?” 

"One what?

“A mineral jewellery. It's only fair I get one of your Gem.” 

Steven’s eyes went wide. “A pink… are you sure?”

“I want one of **your** Gem.” 

“Oh! Y-yeah. I can do that.”

Spinel took a moment to dry her eyes, then she grabbed one of Steven’s hands. 

“Alright, so. How formal do you want this?”

Spinel supposed she should be on her knees for this. She’d seen things like this in the movies Peridot and Lapis had shown her the last time one of her visits had included a trip to Little Homeworld. She’d already messed it up because the ring was a necklace and Steven had made it for himself, but improv was one of her skills. 

“Ahem.”

Spinel bounced off the bed and got down on her knees. She held Steven’s hand against her Gem, bathing his fingers in vibrant magenta light as it glowed for him. She closed her eyes and held her head high. 

“I, Spinel, possessing a stable and whole Gem, would like to be ‘more than friends’ with Steven Quartz-Diamond Universe. I want to be partners, lovers, significant other and companions, but preferably, Sweethearts because I like that one best.”

Spinel cracked open one eye and smiled awkwardly up at Steven. “How’s that?” 

Steven didn't even need to reply. She could see the massive stars in his eyes. 

“I love you.”

"I love you too.”

Steven pulled her off the floor and into his lap. 

“Is it okay if I put my lips against yours?” 

“Cha. Yeah. I know what kisses are. Silly.”

“Good. Thank the fucking stars!”

Steven’s kiss tasted like their bubble-gum flavoured lips and Spinel decided she needed to have her own lip gloss. One for every flavour of candy on earth, then she could kiss Steven with a different one every day. 

* * *

**Epilogue(s) **

“Okay, you can open them now.”

Spinel slowly dropped her hands from her eyes. She looked herself over in the mirror. Her form was the same as before, except for the addition of a rose-gold chain cinched around the narrowest part of her midriff. Each link was a separate golden star, attached at the outermost points. 

She swayed to the left, then the right. The fit was tight enough that the chain didn't move around too much or slip off her hips. She’d need to be careful not to damage it when she adjusted the proportions of her body. 

Steven gently held her hip with one hand and slid the chain along, moving the pendant that hung from it until it was resting perfectly over her belly. The little pink diamond was mounted facing forward, encircled by a band of rose gold. 

"Sorry that it's kinda small,” Steven apologized. “Earth gems are like that. More or less. There’s volcanic activity involved, and a lot of them get ground down, and Peridot thought we should rob a bank but-" 

Spinel grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled Steven into a kiss to get him to shut up. 

“Mmf... I’ll take that as a sign that you like it?”

Spinel grinned and gave her hips a little wiggle. Steven’s gem. Steven’s gem on her tummy. 

“Nha, I don’t like it.”

Steven rolled his eyes. “Let me guess. You don't like it because you **love** it?”

“Bingo!”

* * *

The difference between playdates and dates was a lot less drastic, then Spinel would have thought. She and Steven still did all the things they'd always enjoyed doing, just more often. 

A few things did change though. For example, Spinel was working harder to improve her relationship with the other Crystal Gems and the humans who were close to Steven. Apparently, this was important so she could become part of something called a ‘family’ which was like friends but ones you got stuck with and just had to deal with the best you could. 

It was an awful lot of work, but Spinel loved Steven and Steven loved his family so Spinel would ‘deal’. (Even with Pearl) 

By far one of Spinel's favourite changes (besides the kissing) was a slight furniture rearrangement in Steven’s room. The beanbag chair that Spinel had once sat in every week had gone unused ever since. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with it, it just couldn’t compete now that Steven’s lap was available for the same purpose. 

After a month, Steven got the picture and replaced the pair with a big one for himself and accepted his status as Spinel’s new beanbag chair. Though he had made Spinel promise not to wiggle around too much because of something called ‘friction.’

“So, wudda ya think? To curly?”

Steven had his chin resting on the top of Spinel’s head, his arms around her middle and his legs crossed underneath her to complete the three layers. Chair, Steven as a chair, and then Spinel on top. 

“I want to see how you picture them. Pick whatever feels right.” 

Spinel frowned and flicked the thumbstick on her controller, rolling through the hairstyle options once more. She was kind of set on curly pigtails, even if she was trying to keep an open mind. She would love their fusion, whatever they looked like. 

The character creator in Spirit Stature was expansive but still limited by what someone else had thought of.

Spinel liked what she had so far, but she’d need to see them in action first. She finalized everything then was prompted to pick her fighting style. She scrolled through the weapons. Each had a different set of animations, so with each one, their entire demeanour changed.

Nothing was really looking right until… Spinel almost dropped her controller. 

On-screen the yet unnamed fusion spun her ring-shaped blade around her wrist. Spinning it up her arm, then down over her head and around her middle. In that moment, Spinel could see it all so clearly. Sharp scythe-like blades on the outside, smooth edge on the inside, luminescent pink and covered with thorns.

It looked like a hula hoop, like a toy, but in their hands, it would be devastating. Strong enough to block, sharp enough to poof anyone unlucky enough to be on the other end, but most importantly; fun to play with. 

“Steven?” 

Steven nodded very slightly, so he didn't bump her head. 

“Yeah. That’s great. It’s like Smoky Quartz's Yo-Yo.” 

“Do you think that’s what it’ll be?”

“It will if that’s what we want.” 

“That’s how it works?!” 

“Yup. We can be whatever we want to be.”

Spinel loaded up the practice area and tried out a few combos with the new playstyle. Spinel watched as they danced across the battlefield, their ring-blade spinning through the air, outwardly chaotic but always under control. 

“What’s their name?” Spinel asked. 

Steven hummed. The vibrations from his chest left a tingling after-sensation on her back. 

“I was thinking about that actually... because I’ve never fused with a gem who didn’t already know what we’d be called. I guess we could pick a gemstone, but there’s nothing that says we have to.”

Spinel bounced a bit in his lap, snuggling back against him. 

“Yuh’ve got somethin' haven’t ya? Tell me.” 

“Alright, but it’s going to need a bit of explanation. On Earth, gemstones sometimes get nicknames, if their big and rare enough, and there was this guy who was really obsessed with collecting the biggest and shiniest. So now there’s the Hope spinel, and there’s also a Hope diamond, and I guess… I like the sound of that."

“it… sounded a lot more profound in my head...” Steven added sheepishly. 

Spiel tried the word out in her head. 

Hope.

**H**appiness **O**pportunity **P**atience **E**quality 

No. this time the word spoke for itself. 

“Hope… Yeah, I tink dat sounds just about right.”


End file.
